Post Office unveils broadband service for 50-plus

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The Post Office will launch a new broadband service on Monday next week, primarily aimed at net newcomers in their fifties and sixties who aren't familiar with the ways of the world wide web and those previously excluded because of current ISP payment and sign-up options.

Those who sign up for the new service, which will come in Broadband Standard or Broadband Extra packages offering speeds of up to 8MB, will be able to pay for it in cash at any of the 14,000 Post Office branches across the country.

Communications watchdog Ofcom has suggested that we're on the cusp of a broadband boom with uptake likely to grow by up to 80 per cent by 2012, with the over-50s - the so-called NETSKI generation - and cash audiences representing much value in this growth.

The Post Office has estimated this value to be worth some £478 million and is hoping to capitalise on that opportunity with this new service, which takes advantage of a five-year deal with BT Wholesale and will be backed by a £9 million marketing campaign spanning all key advertising mediums.

"Until now, some significant groups in society have missed out on all the internet has to offer purely because broadband is perceived as a complicated luxury. With the support of BT, we are now able to open up a new range of products and services to these groups with a better, fairer and easier to use broadband service that reflects the trust that older customers, in particular, have in the 'People's Post Office,'" said Alan Cook, managing director of the Post Office.

"This new addition to our telecoms product portfolio follows the launch of our HomePhone service in 2005 and will help to secure the future success of the Post Office branch network."

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